So, onwards to Game 2 and getting a nice 16 point win saw me climb up the tables, but not too high, don’t want to be in nose bleed territory. For this round I was drawn against Daemon Legions again. My opponents list for this round:

So slightly different to the last army I fought. The Maw scares the bejesus out of me, what an absolute tank and he grows wounds back beyond it’s starting value! I love that if he gets to 18 wounds he pops! What I wouldn’t give for a big unit of zombies to feed to him. I don’t plan on going anywhere near him until I’ve taken out everything else.
The Courtesan seems like an easier target for me to tackle so I’m tempted to try and bring that thing down. I’m always happy to see points spent I things I don’t care about, Hard Target (2) and I have no shooting, if it’s going to die it is going to die the good old fashioned way.

Two different magic lores to the last Daemons too, Evocation and Withcraft, quite light on the damage spells but those buffs and hexes could really prove problematic when it comes to the crunch.

There’s the obligatory Bloat Flies which I have the same basic plan for them that I had last game, shoot with magic, throw Feldraks at them and don’t forget about hatred against fliers this time. Mymidons are different but with only 1 attack I’m not too worried about them, it’s just core tax, what could they possibly do to me?!

Deployment this time is Dawn Assault and the secondary objective is Capture the Flags, I like to think I stand a good chance with this objective as I have 3 pretty tough units to crack so I’m hoping I can retain two of them at least whilst killing my opponents.

We do spells first and I opt for the same manifestations as the last game on my Exalted Herald as it worked pretty well last time. So Abiding Spirit, mostly for Smite the Unbeliever and a chance to get wounds back, and Brand of the Dragon so I can fly and get Breath of Corruption. I also take Hellfire as my third spell, hopefully I can cast it this game after getting shut down trying to cast every time in the last game.

My opponent goes for Deceptive Glamour (-1/2 off OS, DS and Agi) and the Spear of Infinity (Strength 5 Penetrating hit) on the Courtesan of Cibaresh. For the Maw of Akaan they pick Ancestral Aid (Reroll to hit), Whispers of the Veil (-1 Res and -1 Dis), Hasten the Hour (3 x 1 S10 hit) and Spectral Blades (Reroll to wound). Some good combat buffs there and I really hate Hasten the Hour, it will just slowly kill my Lord if I don’t dispel it, if I do dispel it then he is going to be buffing his units instead.

We deploy as shown below (the map is slightly off as i thought it was counterthrust but you get the idea). As my opponent has gone heavy on the right I’m hoping to push the left flank, smash the flies and envelop him.

My opponent dropped it all before me and gets first turn, so off we go.

The Daemons aren’t wasting any time and push forward straight at me. The Maw is 18” away from the Warriors so that he can cast Hasten the Hour on them, other than that not much to mention.

Straight to Magic and the Daemons get the 4 Flux Card giving them 8 Power dice to my 5 Dispel. The Maw casts Whispers of the Veil on the Feldraks and I let that off as it won’t affect anything for the first turn, I’m saving all my dispel dice for Hasten the Hour. The Maw then casts Hasten the Hour on 4 dice at the Warriors, I throw my 5 Dispel dice to try and stop it and fail, a great start! So a Warrior dies and the Champion and Chosen Lord both take a wound. Lastly the Courtesan cats the Spear of Infinity at the Feldrak Elder (Is he a magnet for those things or something?), it goes off and wounds him but I finally make an Armour Save against it.

I start with the Forsaken one who gets a bit carried away and goes 14” forward. I run the Warhounds up in front of the Brazen Beasts and Courtesan and I’m able to chaff both units up with them. I move the Feldrak Elder up behind them and he’s positioned so that he can charge the Courtesan next turn and the Courtesan cannot get out of his Line of Sight, it would have to retreat to get away. I’m quite cautious with the Warriors and the Fallen and move them up slowly, I have to be careful of Flank charges as my opponent has a lot of units. The Feldraks and the Chosen Knights run up the left flank to try and goad the Bloat Flies in. I decide rather than trying to blast the Flies with magic, as was the plan, I would instead focus on the Courtesan, so I fly the Exalted Herald to the right.

The Magical Flux lets me down as I draw the 2 Flux Card. I get 7 Power dice and my opponent gets 5 Dispel, so not as terrible as I thought it would be. I start off by casting Hellfire on the Courtesan but my opponent dispels it, I then cast the small version of Smite the Unbeliever on the Courtesan which goes off and reduces its Strength (was hoping for Resilience really). Finally I cast Breath of Corruption on the Feldrak Elder which goes off. In the shooting phase the Feldrak Elder uses his new found Toxicbreath weapon on the Courtesan and causes a wound.

Plenty of charges this turn, the Courtesan decides to charge the dogs on its own, I forgot about Terror (as I always do with the Warhounds) but luckily they make their Terror check. The Myrmidons on the right charge the Forsaken One, it’s a fair distance but with swift stride they easily make it. The Maw of Akaan and the Bloat Flies both charge the Feldraks, I can take one of them but not both. Fortunately the Maw needed a 10 on the dice and failed but the Bloat Flies come in.

The Hellhounds on the left run in front of the Chosen Knights to chaff them up and the other Hellhounds run in front of the Warriors to chaff them up. The Brazen Beasts walk back a bit to survey their options whilst the Succubi and the other Myrmidons move forward slowly.

Onto what will no doubt be a key magic phase. The Dark Gods must be smiling on me as my opponent draws the 2 Flux Card, giving the Daemons 8 Power dice and me 5 Dispel so my opponent should only be getting one spell off this turn, hopefully. The Maw begins by casting Hasten the Hour on my Warrior block with 4 dice and gets 19, I have to let that through and hope to stop anything else and keep the Feldraks alive. Hasten kills off my Warrior Champion, another Warrior and does a wound to my Chosen Lord who now sits on one.

Next the Maw casts Whispers of the Veil on the Feldraks with 3 dice and again gets an average roll of 10 or so, I throw all 5 dice to Dispel that one and shut it down but alas the Dark Gods have a cruel sense of humour as I fail to dispel it on 5 dice! (I get 3 2s and 2 1s). With his last single dice the Maw casts Spectral Blades on the Bloat Flies and rolls a 6 giving it a casting value of 8. I try to dispel it with my 2 dice I got back from my last terrible dispel attempt and fail to again to dispel. So now my Feldraks are Resilience 4 and the Bloat Flies are rerolling to wound.

That awful Magic Phase has doomed me and I think I played it spot on. Spectral Blades is probably going to hurt me more than Whispers of the Veil will but there was only a 2/3 chance of the Maw casting Spectral Blades in the first place, I was much better off stopping the spell he got through and hoping he failed to cast Spectral Blades rather than keeping all 5 dice to stop him casting a spell he probably may not have even have been able to cast.

Now begins what is no doubt going to be a dreadful Combat phase. We start off with the not so important combats. The Courtesan is only able to kill 4 Warhounds, I thought they would all die, the Warhounds attack back and do no wounds to the Courtesan. The Warhounds flee from combat but the Courtesan doesn’t pursue as it couldn’t possibly get out the Elder Feldraks Arc.

The Myrmidons attack the Forsaken One and do 3 Wounds to the behemoth. I strike back and kill 5 Myrmidons. The Myrmidons lose combat but pass their break test. I was surprised that the Forsaken one took 3 wounds to be honest but the Battle Focus on the charge really helped there, they’d be lucky to do that again.

Now it’s time to see what the Feldraks are made of! The Bloat Flies are going first as they charged and now have a higher agility, they are hitting me on 4s and wounding on 4s with a reroll and they do 12 wounds! They have 18 attacks and they have gone above and beyond with that! I was expecting to lose 2 Feldraks if I was unlucky, it should be 7 wounds or so on average but not 12. Now the Feldraks strike back, the best I can hope for now is to fail spectacularly and not do too many wounds so that the Toxic splash backs doesn’t kill another guy, if I have 3 Feldraks left at the end I’m steadfast. I have 9 attacks back, hitting on 3s with Hatred and wounding on 2s, there’s little chance of me messing this up, sadly. The Feldraks tried their best to mess this up and succeed in only doing 6 wounds, the Toxic attacks back on the Feldraks do 8 wounds! That is 20 wounds in total on the Feldraks! I now have one lonely Feldrak left who must be in complete shock at that combat, he is auto breaking from that combat and I’m not surprised, he flees a pathetic 4” and is run down by the Bloat Flies. Also, to rub salt into the wound they get 3 wounds back from Broodmother, because why not?!

I have never witnessed such a brutal display of slaughter on the Feldraks in all my time, even now I am still genuinely shocked that they took such a hideous beating. Did I overestimate the killing power of the Feldraks and drastically underestimate the damage output of the Bloat Flies? Even when I try to roll out the combat again I get nowhere near as many wounds on myself as that, the majority of the time the Feldraks stick even with both Whispers and Spectral Blades going against them. The Spectral Blades really helped with the Toxic Attacks and that was the final nail in the coffin, a spell cast on 1 dice has screwed me right over! In case you can’t tell I’m still furious about this combat so I need a breather…..

I’ve calmed down now and so we go to my turn 2 where it’s time to getting some a$$! I charge the Feldrak Elder at the Courtesan, a combat I’m unlikely to win as it’s striking first and has a better Offensive skill than me but I’ve got to do something. The Warriors charge the Hellhounds in front of them and the Chosen Knights do the same with their Hellhounds.

I had a choice to either charge the Fallen into the Myrmidons to help out the Forsaken One or use them to chaff up the Brazen Beasts, I opt for the latter and run them up alongside the Feldrak Elder to give him as long as he needs to kill the Courtesan. I rally the Warhounds, at least these doggos are doing me proud. I fly the Exalted Herald back to the left flank to get blasting those Bloat Flies like I should have been doing from the start.

The Magical Flux flows strong this round as I draw the 7 Flux card making it 10 Power dice to my opponents 6. I start off by casting Smite the Unbeliever on the Bloat Flies to lower their Resilience and make any potential damage spells more effective, however I fail to reach the 8 needed with 3 dice by rolling 3 2s so I don’t even get a dice back!

Next I throw 5 dice at casting Hellfire on the Bloat Flies and I get 19 on the dice, a pretty good roll and no triples which is good. This leaves me with 2 dice and my opponent decides to throw 4 dice to try and Dispel this spell and keep 2 more for my last spell. I thought he was mad as it just seems like a waste of good dispel dice and he’s unlikely to get 19 with 4 dice, I’m obviously proven wrong though as my opponent rolls 20 on 4 dice! I can’t even get 8 n 3 dice but he can get 20 with 4, madness!

With my last 2 dice I just put them on Hand of Glory on the Warriors but opponent easily Dispels that and so ends a pathetic round on Magic. I could have played that round better by starting off with the Dark prelates bound spells I think to try and eek out some dice and if not then I at least get the buffs off and then blasted the Bloat Flies with Hellfire or not. At least I may have cast a spell.

Anyway, onto combat where I start at the Chosen Knights on th Hellhounds where the Chosen Knights kill 3 of the Hellhounds. Two hellhounds strike back and thanks to Lethal Strike are able to inflict 2 wounds on the Chosen knights. The Karkadans strike back and finish off the 2 remaining Hellhounds. I reform the Chosen Knights to face the Bloat Flies and the Maw in case he wants some action.

The Warriors go next and easily kill all the Hellhounds before they can attack back. The red mist has descended on me at this point, I have become an avatar of Vanadra, Goddess of Wrath, so I decide to overrun because at this point I have to get in combat or my Lord is going to die next turn to Hasten the Hour, I cannot afford to sit back, I have to get in combat! I overrun 10” which is a little bit too far but I should be ok as long as the Forsaken one can hold up that unit of Myrmidons for another round.

So I go to the Forsaken One combat next where the Myrmidons are striking first with just 8 attacks, hitting on 2s wounding on 5s. They cause 3 wounds and I fail to make any Fortitude saves and the Forsaken One dies. I do my grind attacks back anyway and only succeed in killing 3 more Myrmidons. The Myrmidons reform such that they can now get a rear charge on my Warrior block and the Warriors are looking at 3 charges, one in the rear, one in the flank and in the front, good job!

To end this dismal round of combat we go the Feldrak Elder where the Courtesan strikes first but is only able to inflict 2 wounds on the Feldrak Elder thanks to his better Resilience and his Armour Saves. The Feldrak Elder strikes back and is able to cause 2 wounds back on the Courtesan. I actually win combat by 1 which was unexpected but the Courtesan makes its break test.

I made a huge mistake in that combat by doing the Warriors combat before the Forsaken One, that’s a rookie error and I’m not happy with myself for that one. I was just getting so frustrated at getting battered all over the table that I felt the need to push and have just ended up faling into a massive trap.

Here comes a Daemon sandwich! The Myrmidons who slayed the Forsaken One charge the Warriors in the rear, the Succubi charge their flank and the other unit of Myrmidons charge the front the Warriors and I am in for a world of pain!

The Brazen Beasts charge the Fallen as well. The only other movement is the Maw of Akaan who moves back a bit away from the Chosen Knights and the Bloat Flies fly behind the Exalted Herald.

It is a huge Magic phase as the Daemons get the 8 Flux Card meaning they get 11 Power dice to my 7 Dispel. The Courtesan starts things off by casting a boosted Deceptive Glamour on the Feldrak Elder, this would lower his Offensive Skill to 3 meaning he would need 5+ to hit the Courtesan. I can’t let that through as the Feldrak Elder is my only chance of getting some decent points at the moment so I dispel it. The Maw casts Ancestral Aid on the Myrmidons to the Warriors front and I let it through. Next it casts Spectral Blades on the Succubi and I let that through too as let’s face it, the Warriors are doomed. Finally the Maw casts Whispers of the Veil on the Warriors and I dispel that as that would be a step too far!

We go straight to the big fight in the middle and despite Chilling Yawn (-3 Agi) my Lord still gets to strike first, all his attacks have to go into the Myrmidons to the front and he is able to kill 3 of them (needed more than that if I am to stand a chance here). The Succubi strike next and kill 5 Warriors but I kill one Succubi in return with the Spiked Shield. The Mymridons to the rear strike next and kill 2 Warriors who kill 2 more Myrmidons with their spiked shields (If things carry on at this rate I may not be as screwed as I thought). The Myrmidons to the front strike next and inflict 10 wounds on the Warriors (!), wiping them out, the Warriors kill 3 more Myrmidons with their Spiked Shields in return. All the Warriors are now dead before they had a chance to strike back because of Chilling Yawn but the War Dais does get to attack back and kills 2 more Myrmidons. I have done 11 wounds in total and have a banner thanks to the Warband Standard however my opponent has done 15 wounds and has a super rear and super flank charge meaning I lose by 9 and my Lord is auto breaking. My opponent makes me flee back towards my own table edge but the Lord flees a measly 6”. All of the Daemon units pursue and easily catch the Chosen Lord. At least I was expecting to lose that combat so that is no big surprise to me, still hurts though.

We move on to the Brazen Beasts who kill all the Fallen before they can strike back. The Brazen Beasts pivot to face the flank of the Feldrak Elder.

Lastly we do the Courtesan combat and the Courtesan strikes first again and despite it’s imprresive array of stats it is only able to inflict a single wound on the Feldrak Elder. The Feldrak Elder strikes back and causes 3 wounds on the Courtesan, killing it! Well, I didn’t think that would happen, I thought I might do a couple of wounds to the Courtesan before getting killed but not actually win that fight! I pivot the Feldrak Elder to face the Brazen beasts, I’d love to take them off too.

Well, I’m rapidly running out of units now and things are looking pretty bleak, I’ll do well to avoid a 20 – 0 at this rate. I charge the Feldrak Elder at the Brazen Beasts to try and claw some points back. I move the Warhounds out of sight of the all the units next to them, ready to buy the Feldrak a bit more time hopefully. The Exalted Herald turns around to face the Bloat Flies. The Chosen Knights run up the battlefield, out of sight of the Maw and turn to face it.

Straight to Magic and I draw the 4 Flux card giving me 8 Power dice and my opponent 5 Dispel dice. I start off with Smite the Unbeliever on the Bloat Flies to lower their Resilience which my opponent let’s through. I cast Breath of Corruption on the Exalted Herald, which again my opponent lets through. Finally I cast Hellfire on the Bloat Flies but my opponent dispels it.

We do the only round of combat this turn and the Feldrak Elder is striking at the same time as the Daredevil riders. The Daredevil riders fail to cause any wounds on the Feldrak Elder, who strikes back and causes 2 wounds to the Brazen beasts. The Brazen beasts also fail to cause any wounds, the Feldrak Elder is really making a name for himself in this game. I win combat by 3 and the Brazen Beasts fail their Discipline check resulting in 3 more wounds. If the Feldrak Elder can do that again then those Beasts are going down.

No charges from the Daemons this turn as they all turn and move towards the Feldrak Elder, it seems a little unnecessary at this point if I’m honest.

It’s a good Magic phase for the Daemons with the 6 Flux card drawn, making it a 9 v 5 round. The Maw casts Ancestral Aid on the Brazen Beasts which I have to let through because I think it’s the lesser of the other two spells coming my way. Next the Maw casts Spectral Blades on the Brazen Beasts but I dispel that one. With his last 3 dice my opponent casts Whispers of the Veil on the Brazen Beasts but I stop it with 2 dispel dice (where were these dice when I needed them?)

Straight to combat, and despite the rerolls to hit, the Brazen Beasts and the Daredevils fail to cause any wounds on the Feldrak Elder. I strike back but only cause a single wound this time round. The brazen beasts pass their break check as well.

No charges from me this turn. I reform the Warhounds to face the Myrmidons next to them so they can’t charge the Feldrak Elder (in hindsight I should have reformed long to try and block both units of Myrmidons). I fly the Exalted Herald to the side of the Bloat Flies, facing the Myrmidons. I move the Chosen Knights closer to action as well.

It’s the best Flux Card for me this time, the 5 card giving me 9 Power dice to my opponents 5. I start off by casting Smite the Unbeliever on the Myrmidons who can charge the Feldrak Elder to reduce their Strength by 1, my opponent lets it through. Next I use 5 dice to cast Hellfire on the Bloat Flies, I don’t get any triples again and my opponent fails to dispel it. The spell only does 6 hits and inflicts 3 wounds on the Bloat Flies, I was hoping for better. Finally I try to cast Breath of Corruption on 1 dice but unsurprisingly I fail.

In the shooting phase I decide to use the Flaming Breath Weapon from Brand of the Dragon on the Bloat Flies and this causes another 3 wounds. I think I rolled pretty average for the number of hits with the breath weapon as well, I could have really done with a double 6. There are only 2 flies left now at least.

In combat the Brazen Beasts are able to cause a wound on the Feldrak Elder and the Feldrak Elder returns the wound in kind. It is a drawn combat so we both stay where we are. I really could have done with another good round of combat here but I think I’ve exhausted them all on the Courtesan.

The Myrmidons next to the Warhounds charge them and the other Myrmidons charge into the flank of the Feldrak Elder and this is probably the end of him. The Succubi move out of Arc of Sight of the Exalted Herald, The Maw moves towards the side of the battle field, I’m really not sure why it is so scared of the ChosenCavalry, I’m fairly sure he would murder them. The Bloat Flies fly behind the piece of impassable.

In the Magic Phase my opponent gets the 7 card and it’s an 8 v 5 phase. The Maw starts off by casting Spectral Blades on the Myrmidons fighting the Feldrak Elder, I let this one though hoping that his Resilience is what is going to save him. The Maw casts Whispers of the Veil on the Feldrak Elder but I dispel it. Finally Ancestral Aid is cast on the Myrmidons but I fail to dispel it so the Myrmidons fighting the Feldrak Elder now I have rerolls to hit and to wound.

The Warhounds are swiftly murdered in combat and the Myrmidons overrun to get away from the Chosen Knights.

The other Myrmidons strike at the Feldrak Elder and with their 10 attacks and all their buffs they easily cut him down before he can even attack back. That was no big surprise, I’ve had 3 turns to kill the Brazen Beasts and I wasn’t able to do it. Both units reform to face the Chosen Knights in case they get too close.

A short round this time as I only have 2 units left, I run the Chosen Knights down towards the impassable hoping they can at least charge a unit of Myrmidons next turn. The Exalted Herald flies behind the Succubi but is still facing the Bloat Flies too.

In the Magic Phase I get the 8 Flux Card and it is looking like a good Magic phase with 10 v 7 on the dice. I start off by throwing 4 dice at Hellfire and I fail to cast it! It is all downhill from there as both Smite the Unbeliever and Breath of Corruption are dispelled. All those Power dice and I couldn’t cast a single spell, disappointing.

I made a mistake in the last turn that I didn’t even see until my opponent pointed it out. The Bloat Flies are able to see the front of my Chosen Knights, I didn’t even take that into consideration when I moved them and that is my mistake. So the Bloat Flies charge into the Chosen Knights, there’s only 2 Bloat Flies so I’m hoping I should be ok.

The Succubi turn around to face the Exalted Herald and every other unit just gets out of the way. There’s no way I’m getting the secondary objective now anyway but he may as well make sure I can’t.

It’s the dreaded 1 Flux card for the Daemons giving them 7 Power dice and me 4 Dispel dice. The Maw begins with Whispers of the Veil on the Chosen Knights on 3 dice, my opponent rolls really well and there’s little chance of me stopping it so I let it through. Next the Maw casts Ancestral Aid on 3 dice and I am able to dispel that one with all my dice. Finally the Maw uses one dice to cast Spectral Blades and pulls it off again! Damn that spell and damn Deamons with their 1 dice shenanigans!

In combat and the Chosen Knights get to strike first despite being charged and they absolutely go to town on the Flies, killing them all before they can strike back. However there is still those pesky Toxic splash backs to roll for. As my opponent is re rolling to wound with these they score 10 hits out of 12. I fail 8 of my Aegis saves against Toxic attacks and the Chosen Knights die. At least they killed the Bloat Flies but those Toxic splash back attacks are ridiculous.

Well, it’s all come down to my Exalted Herald holding the fort on his own. The Herald charges the Succubi as it is his only chance of popping the unit, Magic alone isn’t going to cut it.

In the Magic phase I can only cast Breath of Corruption but my opponent dispels it with ease.

In the combat the Exalted Herald does 4 wounds with the help of its stomp attack. The Succubi strike back and cause a wound on the Exalted Herald. I win the combat but the Succubi pass their break test and that’s the game!

We total up the scores and the Daemon Legions scored 3850 where as I only scored 1550, making it a 16 – 4 on VPs but my opponent scored the objective as he killed all my scoring units so it is a 19 – 1. I should also add that my opponent completely forgot about his Ambushing Mageblight Gremlin and he kindly gave me those points for them. I found this a frustrating game as I don’t think I made too many mistakes early on in this game but I completely fell apart once the Feldraks got destroyed. I’m interested to know what people think on that Turn 2, was I genuinely unlucky or did I just play the magic phase and the combat wrong? Should I have let Whispers of the Veil through and just stopped Spectral Blades or did I make the right choice? Should Feldraks beat Bloat Flies in a head to head combat?

I would have done deployment slightly differently by swapping the Forsaken One for the Chosen Knights as the Chosen Knights are pretty terrible against the Bloat Flies but would be great against all that infantry. Whereas Forsaken Ones are quiet disappointing against infantry I find, there’s too many attacks coming back against them and they just lack the damage output to deal with blocks of infantry. Also those Myrmidons can really tear up Forsaken Ones.

The only difference I would have done early on was to hold the Feldraks back and let the Exalted Herald get a couple of rounds of Hellfire off on the Bloat Flies to weaken them up before throwing the Feldraks at them. I probably should have been a bit more aggressive with the Warriors too to try and get in combat sooner.

I think I used my Exalted Herald correctly in this game and in the previous game. He’s too fragile to be a combat monster but he is quick enough to fly around and be a pain. The only unit he could have fought in this game was the Succubi, I think every other unit in that Daemon Army quickly kills him without taking too much damage so I had no choice but to not engage with him. Maybe I should use him to threaten flanks of units a bit to try and goad my opponent into thinking I’m going to use him to get into combat. I’d use him for flank charges but never in the front of a good unit, he’s just to fragile I find.

After those Feldraks died though I just fell to pieces giving away the Warriors for nothing where as I would have perhaps have been better off staying back a bit and making him come at me. Once I took out the Courtesan and weakened the Bloat Flies there wasn’t a great deal for them to be scared of.

Only during writing this battle report did I notice how poorly I used my Chosen Knights as well, I should have been using them to push at the Daemon Infantry, I had the potential, I think, to take out another scoring unit and draw the Objective but again, I got careless with them and threw them away to those bloody Bloat Flies. Whilst I’m on the subject, 2 Toxic Attacks back for each wound suffered! How on earth did they come to that conclusion as a fair rule? It’s absolutely crazy against any combat orientated army where you have to rely on close quarters to do the damage as it just melts your guys. Those Bloat Flies did most of their wounds from the Acid Blood and not from their own close combat attacks, melting the Chosen Knights for 7 wounds (all without even having to swing a swoprd at them) and doing 8 wounds on the Feldraks! I’d settle for one Toxic attack back for each wound suffered and even then that’s being generous. I suppose at least I know now how utterly horrible those Flies can be and will approach them very differently next time, Game 1 lulled me into a false sense of security in regards to Bloat Flies.

Also I think we’ve all learnt a valuable lesson I how to beat me at Ninth Age, smash one of my units and I’ll get incredibly irate and make stupid mistakes, easy!

Anyway, enough moaning, after that big loss I’m on 17 points in total now and so it’s on to Game 3 where I have to redeem myself against the Ogre Khans!

I’d have a look into the spell reroll to wound on Special Attacks. I can’t remember exactly but I think those Toxic Attacks shouldn’t have been rerollable. It’s one of the two (Melee vs Close Combat attacks being the difference).

I agree that your CK would have been more effective vs Infantry, but I reckon the key thing that let you down was that you deployed with a plan in mind (EH magic bloat flies with Feldrak mop up) and then changed that plan in your first movement phase. Essentially meant you out-deployed yourself.

You're absolutely right about out deploying myself. I don't even know why I took my Herald away from the Flies. I think I just thought that the Feldraks were going to smash those flies so the Herald wasn't needed there. I also saw the opportunity to get Breath of Corruption against the Courtesan and was drawn to it.

Spectral Blades says melee attacks on the spell rather than close combat attacks so that includes the special attacks then? I think we played it right but I could be wrong. If I'm right then it just makes that spell ridiculously good on those Bloat Flies.

Evocation spell:
The target must reroll failed to-wound rolls with its Melee Attacks

Melee Attack definition:
All attacks made at units in base contact with the attacker’s unit in the Melee Phase are Melee Attacks.
Special Attacks are considered to be Melee Attacks that are not Close Combat Attacks (see “Special Attacks”, page 114)

Acid Blood rule:
Special Attack. For each Health Point the model loses against Melee Attacks, the model that caused the wounding hit immediately suffers 2 hits with Toxic Attacks, before any casualties are removed, distributed onto the model’s Health Pool.

Because it’s a special attack. So, Ancestral Aid effects close combat attacks which are not Special Attacks.
Spectral Blades effects melee which includes special attacks. (Note: this is my reading of it so clarity should probably be sought).
Essentially, where Ancestral Aid was cast they may have played it wrong which could explain the Feldraks being spanked harder than they probably would have been otherwise. This then goes to if the strategy of throwing Feldraks at Bloat Flies was the right one or if it was all just unlucky dice.

I think attacking them with the Feldraks is definitely the right call. Their Resilience of 5 would normally be enoughto see them last against those Toxic attacks but the double hit of -1 res and rerolls to wound is a killer. My opponent knew what he was doing and i fell right in his trap. Won't happen again, i'll always be keeping dice back to stop Spectral Blades next time. Binding Scroll would have been incredibly handy as well.